Confession #1 - I Miss Being a Classroom Teacher

I'm in year six as an Instructional Technology Specialist and not a year goes by that I don't miss being a classroom teacher. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my job, love training teachers, love working with teachers to integrate technology in their classroom, and on and on. I think the reason I miss being in the classroom is two fold: 1) I miss students and 2) As an Instructional Technology Specialist, I've learned about many new technologies that I would love the opportunity to implement in a classroom.

So what would my future classroom look like? Here are the top two technologies that I would use in my classroom on an everyday basis. Take a look and see if maybe you could incorporate these.

Remind for Parent Contact
Need a one-way communication tool that doesn't share personal contact information and works both from a laptop or a mobile device via an app? "Here's Your Sign!" Things to know about Remind:

• It's FREE. Can I get an AMEN? Teachers love technology tools that are free.
• Sign-up takes about 20 seconds.
• Teachers do NOT have to enroll parents or students. Parents enroll themselves with a code generated by the system. Enrollment prompts them to enter their first and last name.  
• No personal phone numbers are shared. 
• It's a ONE-way communication system. 
• Once your class or classes have been created, Remind generates an instruction sheet for you to print or email those you would like to invite. 
• Remind generates a message history. 
• Schedule when messages will be sent.
• Attach files (photos, PDF, documents, URLs) to messages.
• Attach voice clips when you send a message using the app. Click here to download app. 
• Resources for teachers. Click here. 

It doesn't get much easier than that. I understand there is a time and place for emails and phone calls, but as a parent of teenagers I love that their teachers have Remind accounts. I get a text message when they have a test, forms are due, fees need paying, games/practices have been cancelled, and my new favorite...scholarships are available that my high school senior can apply for. 

Student Response Systems 
I love student response systems for several reasons: polling students for classroom discussion, formative assessments, and review games for summatives. Below are my "go-to" response systems:

• Poll Everywhere - used for creating classroom discussion
• Using this student response system means you do want to project the poll from your laptop to a projector.
• Students can answer the question on their iPad, phone or on a laptop.
• Clickable Image question is my favorite. You can create your own image to upload. 
• Try word cloud responses with open ended questions.
• Click here for a tutorial guide.

• Kahoot - used for review sessions for summatives
• Kahoot is a game based response system. Players get points for answering questions the fastest and correctly.
• The teacher clicks "next" so students receive the question.
• The website should be displayed on a projector from a laptop while students respond via a web-enabled device via https://kahoot.it/. 
• After each question is ask Kahoot shows the leader board. Top 5 appear on the screen

• Socrative - used for formative assessments and exit tickets
• Types of Quizes:
• Quick question – means you ask a verbal question on the fly and choose what type of response you want…T/F, MC, Short Answer
• Exit Ticket asks the same three questions every time…
• How well did you understand today's material?
• What did you learn in today's class?
• Please answer the teacher's question. (you ask a verbal question to class)
• Space Race – means you push a quiz that has been created already to “groups” you choose and the groups compete against each other to see who can make their spaceship get to the finish line first.
• What I love about Socative:
• Quiz responses can be exported into an Microsoft Excel file.
• The Exit Ticket can be used without having to prep beforehand.
• The order of questions and answer responses can be randomized. 
• Student Response Tutorial Guide - click here

5 Great Tech Tools to Use with Students

Tired of the same old technology in your classroom? Need new ideas? There are a million of technology tools to use with students but let's look at five tools that you can start using today to engage your students. These tools are simplistic in nature and anyone can learn to use them, not just the tech savvy teacher.

1.  Kahoot!

• What is Kahoot?
• Kahoot is a game-based classroom response system. Engage the room by projecting the quiz onto the screen at the front. Without needing an account, everyone joins through their device and will see their name appear on the screen. Users answer questions in real time while playing against each other aiming to be at the top of the leaderboard.
• Educational Applications
• Teachers can create a quiz or a discussion/survey to gather opinions or facilitate debate.
• Use the public Kahoot menu to search for Kahoots made by others.
• Kahoot is an online platform so it supports any device with a Web browser.
• Click here for Kahoot Tutorials. 

2.  Padlet

• What is Padlet?
• Padlet is paper for the web, online cork board, or a virtual board. Padlet is an online platform that requires no software download and users only need a Web browser to access.
• Educational Applications
• Teachers create a wall and from there the options are:
• make wall private and only those with the link can access
• users double click the wall to add a "sticky note"
• instant collaboration...no refresh needed...all activity posts to the wall
• set permissions for users...view/write/moderate posts
• add multimedia...links to YouTube videos, MS Word Documents, PDF files, etc
• customize layout...freeform or organized stream
• customize backgrounds
• embed the wall on blogs or websites
• Great for class collaboration, brainstorming, group notetaking/questioning/research, exit ticket and much more...the possibilities are endless.
• Students can participate using any device that has internet (iPad, iPhone, Android phones or tablets, laptops, computers, eReaders that have internet access)

3.  Tackk

• What is Tackk?
• Tackk is a free website maker that allows anyone to create anything, quickly publish and share that one simple page anywhere. 
• Educational Applications
• Types of Tackks to create: blank canvas, class assignment, event, blog post, announcement and many more.
• Items that can be added to Tackks: headline, text, photo, video, audio, button (hyperlink to sites), map, and more.
• Customize Tackk background styles/colors, font type and color, security (make private or public), title, etc.
• Share your Tackk via Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+, Tumblr, Email, Embed, or Print PDF.
• Great for class projects, group projects, blogs, online projects...try something other than PowerPoints or Word Documents for projects. 
• NOTE: Without creating an account any Tackk created will expire in 7 days.

4.  BitStrips

• What is BitStrips?
• Bitstrips is the online funny pages. Turn yourself into a cartoon character and create your own comic strips.
• Educational Applications
• Create comic strips as digital stories.
• Review news by recreating the story as a comic strip.
• Note: Best works when users create an account.

5.  ThingLink

• What is ThingLink?
• Upload an image. Tag images with web content. Make your images come alive with music, video, and text. Every image contains a story and ThingLink helps you tell your stories. Follow image channels from your favorite bloggers and friends. 
• Educational Applications:
• Teachers can use ThingLink to provide students with differentiated learning experiences that support unique learning styles through the use of multimedia.
• ThinkLink is a flexible digital toolkit for helping teachers design learning experiences that leverage the power of technology to transform learning.
• Create Interactive Albums with ThingLink Channels http://thinglinkblog.com/2014/02/21/create-interactive-albums-with-thinglink-channels/
• Student signup: Teachers can now register new students on their behalf.  The students do not need to have a working email address, yet they all will receive an individual user account.
• Automatic group creation on Teacher sign-up: Teachers will automatically get one group to which they can add students by listing their names.
• Safe browsing environment: If the logged-in user is assigned student status, they can only see images created by other people with student status, teacher status, or images specifically curated by Thinglink Staff.  This affects search, streams, hashtags, and channels.
• Students can participate using any device that has internet (iPad, iPhone, Android phones or tablets, laptops, computers, eReaders that have internet access)
• Reference guide on what content can be added to images. Click here.

Five Technology Things to Try in 2014

Image credit: acucucu / 123RF Stock

1.  Twitter in the Classroom

• Consider adding Twitter to your classroom this new year. Twitter is a powerful tool  for secondary students. It is a great way to conduct book talks, class discussions, review for exams, etc all through custom hashtags. Click here to read "60 Ways to Use Twitter in the Classroom" by Ian Jukes.

2.  Student Response Systems

• Response systems are a great way to get instant feedback from students. Try using response systems as an entrance ticket to class, exit ticket, whole class discussions, backchannel for when students need more information about a concept being taught, etc. Click here to learn about my three favorite student response systems.

3.  Google Drive

• Using Google Drive in the classroom allows students to take notes, add comments to documents, build/view presentations, create spreadsheets, and all in real time via the web. My favorite part of Google Drive is that it is a step in taking your classroom to a paper-free environment. Check out this infographic on 12 Ways to Use Google Drive in the Classroom by Jeff Dunn.

4.  Grading with Voice Comments

• Most students write or type their papers to turn in for teachers to hand grade. Why not try something new? Students can type their papers in Google and then share that document with their teacher. The teacher can then open the document using Kaizena, add voice comments to the document and then share that audio file back with students. The students original document is not altered in any way but now students can hear a teachers comments on areas that are excellent and areas that need work. Click here to read more about using Kaizena with Google Docs by Richard Byrne.

5.  Infographics

• Wikipedia defines infographics are graphic visual representations of information, data or knowledge intended to present complex information quickly and clearly. Look above on #3 to see an example of an infographic. Click here to read ways to use infographics in the classroom.

Using Student Response Systems for Semester Final Reviews

Semester finals are just around the corner so why not use a student response system to review material? Three of my favorite response systems are listed below. All three require an internet connection. No app needed. No texting. Just a computer connection via laptop, computer or mobile device.

Poll Everywhere
Poll Everywhere allows the users to respond via text message, web browser or Twitter. I prefer the web browser usage over the other choices for education. The short of it...the browser is an easier way to vote.

Short web addresses are easier to type on mobile devices. On your phone's web browser, just go to PollEv.com and type your voting keywords as always. Texting in your answer requires a text code and then a code to accommodate your answer. Also, if you use the web browser many smart phones allow the user to bookmark that browser or add that link to their home screen.


Features:

• Hide Results. This is great when you don't want students to respond based on how others are responding to the question. You can hide results until everyone in the class has responded to the question. 
• Various Question Types: open-ended, multiple choice, clickable image
• When choosing a question type know that you can chose the way the answer gather on the screen. See options in the graphic below.
• When using "word cloud" response be sure to remind students to use no spaces between words. This is best for one word responses.
• Clickable Image is a new feature that allows the user to upload an image and the student to drop a pin on the area that they touch. Great for geographical locations, linkert scale type responses, etc. 

Socrative 2.0 (beta version)
Socrative 2.0 (beta version) is another great student response system. I like this version better than using the app for several reasons. New in 2.0 the students are able to navigate through the questions as the numbers are listed on the left side. The new sleek look of 2.0 is very appealing. Using the app (1.0) only allows the teacher to see when questions are answered. Now teachers can see the actual student answer to the quiz questions. Images can be added to questions, also. Result appear to be cleaner in this version. What I like best is using this version via a web browser. As a teacher I can just add the URL to a wall in the classroom and the room number and students can then bookmark that site on their smart phone, laptop, class computer, etc.

 Here's a quick glance of the new dashboard in Socrative 2.0. Click here to watch a video of 2.0.

Kahoot
Create and play quizzes, discussions or even surveys (called Kahoots) using any device with a web browser… including a laptop, iPad, iPhone, iPod, Android, Chromebook, Windows Phone or PC and more. By answering questions through the easy-to-use interface, users play against each other aiming to top the on-screen leaderboard. It's a fun and interactive way to to review for semester exams by adding the competitive nature. Keep the leaderboard showing on the screen for students to see the top leaders. Pause at anytime to discuss the content.

Start Up Screen

Answering Quiz Questions